$500K Grant To Business Advocacy Group Aimed To Help Minority Firms Gain National And Global Contracts

Gaining fresh backing to potentially help minority firms grow, the National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC) has obtained a $500,000 grant from the Blackstone Charitable Foundation.

Through its Corporate Plus program, the large business advocacy group plans to use the funding to connect minority-owned businesses with major employers. The program allows vetted, certified minority business enterprises (MBEs) to become better able to execute national and global contracts.

According to a news release, the grant will enable NMSDC to expand the program and increase its impact in several ways that, include:

• “Growing Corporate Plus membership by 20% year-over-year.”
• “Facilitating increased direct corporate introductions to MBEs.”
• “Driving an overall revenue growth rate for Corporate Plus members exceeding the national average.”
• “Increasing capacity building for MBEs focused on meeting industry gap areas.”

“All too often MBEs are associated primarily with the small business community. While this may be true in many cases, Corporate Plus recognizes that there are also numerous large, minority-owned businesses that are primed to do business on a national and global scale,” stated NMSDC Chief Growth Officer Sylvia Acosta, Ph.D. She added the program had helped many minority firms and MBEs take the next step in their business development.

The new support adds to efforts by NMSDC as it continues to attain $1 trillion in annual revenue for its certified MBE members. Blackstone Charitable Group is the philanthropic arm of the giant investment firm Blackstone.

Blackstone Charitable Foundation Executive Director Maura Pally said, “At Blackstone, we believe supporting the growth of diverse businesses delivers strong performance, drives entrepreneurship, and builds a more resilient supply chain. We are thrilled to be supporting NMSDC as we seek to enable our portfolio companies to align their supply base with their consumer base.”

Also, the NSMDC announced the launch of the Capital Managers Program to help capital providers, minority firms, and related services connect more simply with MBEs to provide funds needed to grow and scale their businesses. The initiative is being launched due to initial support of $100,000 from the investment bank Barclays. The program’s first goal is to establish the largest and most comprehensive database of capital providers and services for firms with an ethnic minority founder or focusing on MBEs.